Yesterday was the third anniversary of Indian opener Rohit Sharma’s record-breaking innings of 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. That match was a crucial one for Rohit as he was making a comeback after three months.
The elegant Indian opener came out with his best ever in that match. Earlier in the innings, he took his time and then went all guns blazing and assaulted the bowling attack of Sri Lanka throughout the innings before getting out off the final ball of the innings for a 173-ball 264 that included 33 fours and 9 sixes.
On the day he scored this historic knock, the Mumbai lad, along with his Indian teammates were present at the Eden Gardens as Virat Kohli and his team will be taking on Sri Lanka in the first match of the three-match Test series.
Speaking to BCCI.tv about the knock, Sharma gave a walk through that memory lane, he said, “I am here at the historic Eden Gardens where a lot happened in my life on 13th of November 2014. I still remember clearly what all happened that day. Prior to the match, I was very nervous as I didn’t sleep properly. Five-six hours of sleep is never a good idea before a big game. I didn’t start my day on a good day. If you don’t have a proper sleep, it messes up things. I moved on from that, came to the ground and I can still remember doing warm-ups, taking a few catches before the start.”
He further elaborated, “I was very nervous as I was waiting for the toss to happen and Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bowl first. I also remember walking out of the home pavilion with thousands of fans cheering and waiting for the team to do well. It was a wonderful set-up to walk out. I was just thinking about how it is going to pan out. I walked out into the middle, played a lot of balls, took my time at the start and I can still remember that I scored my first fifty off 74 balls (73 balls actually).”
Rohit also expressed the moment he got his confidence back in his innings and didn’t look back after that point, he said, “As soon as I got to my 100, it was all about me making mistakes and getting out. I kept telling myself that I can bat as long as possible and try to get as many runs as possible. I kept batting and didn’t try to hit too many shots. As the outfield is really fast here, I was just trying to find gaps and hit the ball through that. I continued to bat and eventually, I got to that 264 score and we ended up scoring 404. After the game got over, I went to the hotel and slept well. It was a memorable day in my life and I cannot forget that. Yes, it is a historic ground and for me, it is a memorable one as it gave me a lot of memories to cherish.”
